History

Our journey began in 1910. At the time, it was the goal of the BC Department of Agriculture to see the province’s many, then-disconnected fairs organized into “circuits, according to districts.” Their main concern at the time? The assemblage of “uniform prize-lists.”

January 31st, 1910 attendees at the first annual convention of the Agricultural Fairs Association in Victoria, BC

However, even amidst such modest concerns, there was already a sense that fairs were a barometer for the “agricultural welfare of the country,” and that it would be prudent to find a way to unite them along “educational lines” for the benefit of the public. With this object in view, they gathered representatives from all existing fairs at a central convention, held on January 31st, 1910. It was here that the many, disparate fairs in BC, became BC Fairs.

In the year that followed, the Department of Agriculture evaluated the efforts of the organization to share information, improve the fair experience, and further fairs as educational venues. And to their estimation, BC Fairs was “one of the best things inaugurated by the Department of Agriculture” since its inception. It’s from these auspicious beginnings that we’ve endured as an organization, growing to represent 48 fairs across the province through the consolidation and delivery of resources, information, and feedback.